Do you need to get angry? Open this thread.

[smokingman]

Guess what the number one export of the United States was in 2011?

Fuel. As in diesel and gasoline.The angry part.Average price it sold for in US dollars(mostly to central American countries).... 2.03 per gallon of gas $2.2 per gallon for diesel.
This is of course not a free market trade.The US sells Mexico refined oil product per the latest free trade treaty at a rate of $98 US dollars per barrel for diesel(43 us gallons per barrel)and $88 per barrel of refined gasoline.

This year those exports where the number one export from the United States.
Article from Yahoo news tonight.

In a first, gas and other fuels are top US export - Yahoo! News

 

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

Did not make me angry, I figured it was ridiculous. Thanks for giving me one more thing to hate.

 

[smokingman]

Did not make me angry, I figured it was ridiculous. Thanks for giving me one more thing to hate.

I will find the figures for you,but a good percentage of all diesel we sold to Mexico was resold back to the United States(at a nice profit for some oil companies).
The end of the Yahoo article offers a clue.
The last time the U.S. was a net exporter of fuels was 1949, when Harry Truman was president. That year, the U.S. exported 86 million barrels and imported 82 million barrels. In the first ten months of 2011, the nation exported 848 million barrels (worth $73.4 billion) and imported 750 million barrels.

 

[hooky]

That's not too far off what our prices at the pump would be without all the taxes and distro costs. We pay around 58 cents/gallon in taxes alone.

 

[dross]

I don't understand the anger thing. What's there to be angry about?

 

[IndyBeerman]

A nice look at the crude oil and retail gas prices over the last 3 years.

 

[rambone]

 

[dhnorris]

doesn't this just show that we are importing raw materials and exporting finished products? This because most of these dinky countries can't afford to build a modern refinery. This is what I like to see.

 

[Garb]

That's not too far off what our prices at the pump would be without all the taxes and distro costs. We pay around 58 cents/gallon in taxes alone.

What this guy said. If anything, you should be mad that you have to pay almost fifty percent in taxes for gasoline in most states. (That's including the 18.4% federal gasoline tax of course).

Gasoline tax information - Indiana Gas Prices

 

[Stschil]

I will find the figures for you,but a good percentage of all diesel we sold to Mexico was resold back to the United States(at a nice profit for some oil companies).

Link?

The end of the Yahoo article offers a clue.
The last time the U.S. was a net exporter of fuels was 1949, when Harry Truman was president. That year, the U.S. exported 86 million barrels and imported 82 million barrels. In the first ten months of 2011, the nation exported 848 million barrels (worth $73.4 billion) and imported 750 million barrels.

If we (as as nation) are selling fuel to other countries and then importing that same fuel back to the US at a loss, then it does **** me off. There should be no reason for it.
This fuel shoild be dumped into the US market as it would lower our prices. It would not turn the economy around by itself, but lower fuel costs would help.

Kind of on topic: I know for a fact that this kind of thing goes on, though.
My Uncle used to drive a regular lane from CA to a border town in TX. He would pick up avacado's in CA, drop the trailer in TX where it would be taken across the border. The next day, he would pick the same trailer up again, only this time the avacado's had "product of Mexico" stickers on them. He would deliver them back to the same DC in CA where they were sold to grocers.

 

[ZombieApocolypse]

What this guy said. If anything, you should be mad that you have to pay almost fifty percent in taxes for gasoline in most states. (That's including the 18.4% federal gasoline tax of course).

Gasoline tax information - Indiana Gas Prices

Yeah but its to fix the roads

 

[Classic]

At $0.25 per gallon both the state and fed make way more off a gallon of fuel than anybody else in the supply chain and they don't provide a bit of value added to the product. Like a vampire or a leach. That's something to be angry about.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

doesn't this just show that we are importing raw materials and exporting finished products? This because most of these dinky countries can't afford to build a modern refinery. This is what I like to see.

This is interesting. We've been told that one of the reasons for volatile gas prices are things like: "we haven't built a new refinery in X years", limited refinery capacity, boutique fuels blends, etc.

Seems to me, the casual observer, that refinery capacity isn't necesarily the problem...maybe we need more competition.

 

[Zoub]

I don't understand the anger thing. What's there to be angry about?

Ethanol. Now there is a fuel we can get pissed about.

Lets use food as a fuel, subsidize it with govt money and then watch the price of Angus go up because corn costs more, all the while ethanol destroys your engines.

ETHANOL FEVER, CATCH It!

 

[dross]

Someone who knows can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think refined gas is a commodity, so there's no real way to sell it here, or there. It's sold, then added to the entire world market in gas. Whether we're a net importer or net exporter just shows how much we produce in relation to everyone else. There's no "their gas" and "our gas," there's just "the gas." Again, I'm not expert in this aspect of the economy, so I welcome correction from someone who actually knows.

As to ethanal, yes, this is something to get angry about, for sure. And like most large problems, this one is government-enduced.

 

[Stschil]

Someone who knows can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think refined gas is a commodity, so there's no real way to sell it here, or there. It's sold, then added to the entire world market in gas. Whether we're a net importer or net exporter just shows how much we produce in relation to everyone else. There's no "their gas" and "our gas," there's just "the gas." Again, I'm not expert in this aspect of the economy, so I welcome correction from someone who actually knows.

As to ethanal, yes, this is something to get angry about, for sure. And like most large problems, this one is government-enducedcreated/subsidized/enacted/mandated.[/QUOTE
]

Just a few additions for emphasis.

I was told once by a farmer friend of mine that even if every plot of tillable land in the US was used for corn production, there still would not be enough corn to meet the Govt's mandate in 2025. I don't know if that's true or not, but don't doubt that kind of ignorance from our Government one bit.

 

[Zoub]

Fight the power. All my small engines are tyranny free, I live in an ethanol friendly zone, but when I am out beyond the lines, I fill some cans and my truck.

Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

 

[dhnorris]

This is interesting. We've been told that one of the reasons for volatile gas prices are things like: "we haven't built a new refinery in X years", limited refinery capacity, boutique fuels blends, etc.

Seems to me, the casual observer, that refinery capacity isn't necesarily the problem...maybe we need more competition.

seems to me that much of what we are told by corperate media on both sides is twisted/slanted/partial truth/lies. There is plenty of oil and gas in this country and we import more oil from canada than from anywhere else. There used to be a refinery on 86th st but it's been torn down. I'm working up at bp now totally re-doing that refinery. A bp guy told me it would cost 100 billion to reproduce that refinery from the ground up. I've worked at robinson marathon and it's dollar general to bp's walmart.

 

[96firephoenix]

While I know that it would not turn the economy around by itself, the gas companies could certainly help by keeping most of this gas in the US. I realize there are poor little third world nations that we can [STRIKE]exploit[/STRIKE] help out by selling them gasoline, but Argentina can sell them gasoline at less than a third of the price and still make a profit on it.

Put America's money back into America and America will prosper. Put America's money into other nations and the other nations will prosper. Funny, that sounds a lot like a certain presidential candidate's platform.

 

[Classic]

That's not too far off what our prices at the pump would be without all the taxes and distro costs. We pay around 58 cents/gallon in taxes alone.

I thought the 25 cents gov income on a gallon I found earlier was low. Big oil the villain or big gov? When I see where the profits are going makes me want to conserve even more.